The problem is more than just annoying — after a year of an average of 5 hours of sleep, falling even farther off the sleep train is making me incredibly sluggish and far more depressed than I’d normally be at this stage of pregnancy. (The good news is that my morning sickness is getting manageable, so at least there’s that…) Edited to add: Um, when I say “far more depressed” I should give an example: Last week after about 3-4 hours of sleep a night and no napping to catch up, I was actually feeling borderline suicidal. All I could think was what a huge burden I am and how much better my husband and kids would be without me. In the cold light of day I know that’s not true, but at the time, things were looking awfully dark.

Sometimes I’m able to take a short nap in the afternoon, but my sleep debt is pretty big, so it doesn’t make a huge difference these days. My 14-month old is teething heavily, so she’s waking up a lot at night too. (We give her ibuprofen for the pain but as usual her urine gets really acidic when she’s teething so it irritates her little bottom terribly, even with Desitin slathered all over.)

Any suggestions on helping me catch some Zs? 

Answer more WFMW dilemmas this week at We are THAT Family.

And when  I went to my OB this week for a routine exam, she felt my neck and said “is your neck always this big?” Me: “?????!?” Turns out I have a very enlarged thyroid. AKA a goiter. Go google images, I dare ya.

Okay, now that you’ve picked yourself off the floor…. I have to go see a specialist and we’ll see what’s next. From what I can tell, all treatment is usually postponed during pregnancy, but it still has to be monitored. Of course now I feel like a sideshow freak with the swollen neck, but maybe this is the reason why I have felt so dead tired and muzzy-headed the last couple of years, even when I’m eating right and exercising. I’ve had my T4 levels tested and they always come back low but within normal range. But obviously something ain’t “normal” if it’s all blown up on one side. 

Meanwhile I’m having visions of a post-op Frankenstein scar and wearing scarves for the rest of my days. Isadora Duncan, I flutter my scarf in your general direction!